The invention of the Mideu: redefining American television in South Korea

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which South Korean media redefined and reevaluated American television between 2006 and 2008, when the dominance of domestic series in entertainment television was purportedly challenged by the resurging popularity of American shows. By analyzing traditional and digital newspaper articles published on this phenomenon, this article demonstrates how the local media produced and disseminated a coherent discourse that transformed American television series into the localized concept of mideu. This process involved the reframing of American television as an idealized alternative to the local counterpart, the reinterpretation of evaluative terms such as diversity and narrative strength, and the selective inclusion and exclusion of certain genres and programs. A close investigation of the construction of the mideu discourse offers an insight into how the local mass media function as the cultural intermediary that translates transnational media to the existing conditions of the local media industry and culture.